Representatives of more than 30 countries, members of international financial organizations, academia, foreign experts, and heads of private sectors are participating in the International High-Level Forum on Landlocked Developing Countries on Food Security and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The opening ceremony of the forum, organized to address issues related to agricultural trade, food security, adaptation to climate change, and logistics in landlocked developing countries, was attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Qu Dongyu, UN High Representative at the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States Rabab Fatima, and European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski. 

The Prime Minister of Uzbekistan noted that effective reforms have been carried out in the agricultural sector in recent years at the initiative of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. As a result, food security and price stability for the population are ensured through domestic production, agrologistics is developing, and the volume of production of products with high added value is expanding.

“The forum held in Tashkent can be considered historical, since international forums of this kind have not yet been held”, said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. “Of course, such significant events cannot be organized without the assistance of the government. Therefore, on behalf of FAO, I express my gratitude to the esteemed President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the heads of state agencies. Today, thanks to wise policy, Uzbekistan is actively developing. Your country has everything – both innovations and technologies. Some of the priority goals of developing countries are ensuring sustainable maritime trade, establishing an international logistics network, and improving trade relations with countries in remote regions. In this regard, many countries pay more attention to systemic investment projects aimed at a multifaceted result, since this process is considered one of the main issues for the economy. I believe that this forum will serve such promising interests.

The forum will include the signing of new contracts and agreements on the development of a transport network linking Uzbekistan with other regions of the world, increasing awareness of the current state of food security and relevant systems in the country, solving key regional and global problems that serve as a barrier to the development of the sphere, trade in agricultural and food products, and the implementation of investment projects.

Utkir Alimov, photos by Rustam Nazarmatov, UzA